


I Don't Know Why

by x215zimer



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Light Angst, Love Confessions, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sharing a Bed, This IS Catradora after all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-10 12:13:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17425682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/x215zimer/pseuds/x215zimer
Summary: Catra and Adora don't know why they can't stay away from each other, even with everything they have gone through, and what they have put the other through. But here they are, again, in the same room, sharing a bed.





	I Don't Know Why

**Author's Note:**

> Based strongly off of the song "I Don't Know Why" by Imagine Dragons, which can be found [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izhxTx4LVWo). Some lines from the song are referenced here, and I recommend listening to it on loop while reading this. At least, that's what I did while writing this.

I Don’t Know Why

As the sun set on a small inn at the edge of a backwater town, mere miles from the nearest battlefield, the doorbell jangled as someone entered. The bartender looked up from the glass she was cleaning and gave a smile to the patron.

“Good afternoon Ana. What will you be having this evening?” she said.

Her monthly customer smiled brightly, as always, before replying “The usual, Miss Gertrund.”

The bartender waved her off with a grin. “I haven’t been a ‘Miss’ in decades.” Sliding her a small platter of food and a room key, she continued. “So, what brings you out this time?”

Ana glanced around the bar, ponytail moving with the motion, before continuing in a hushed voice. “Oh you know. The usual. Very top secret stuff in here,” she said, patting her satchel.

“Mhm. _Very._ Well you keep your secrets and don’t you mind an old gossip’s curiosity,” the bartender said as Ana finished her food. Ana gave a quiet thanks to her, before taking the key and slipping upstairs. The Rebellion spy had begun frequenting her inn nearly once a month for the past year, always carrying her satchel of “top secret” info. She nodded to the two hooded figures in the corner, who always arrived the day before and left the day after Ana did, with a large box they never opened. Sometimes Gertrund swore she saw a flash of pink hair under the hood or weirder, a crop top, but decided she was getting on in her years. No way a princess was out here just for information when she wasn’t even the one picking it up.

Minutes after Ana had gone up, her second regular customer arrived. Cloaked in a long hooded cloak, colored a red so dark it was nearly brown, they walked through the doors without a sound. As usual, the hood was up, concealing any features Gertrund might have been able to see. With a brisk nod to the bartender, they walked up the stairs, watched the entire way by the two in the corner. Gertrund had heard her speak only once the first time she came here, quietly giving Rebellion passcodes and asking which room Ana had taken minutes before. 

After the second guest had went upstairs, the two in the corner relaxed, and settled in for their usual night long vigil, waiting for Ana and the hooded guest to finish whatever business they had to do, before slipping away into the night only to repeat it again a month later. Gertrund minded her business, trusting whatever secret Rebellion activities were happening would be better off without her intervention, and indirectly, so would her establishment.

* * *

Adora sat on the edge of the bed, waiting. She hadn’t seen her nighttime visitor outside, but then again, she never did. She was too good to be seen hanging around their meeting place and risk getting caught. A series of quiet knocks at the door caught her attention.

_Tap. Tap tap tap._

Their signal. Adora unlocked the door and opened it, revealing the cloaked figure. Brushing past her, the figure entered the door and waited until Adora has closed and locked the door behind her to take her hood off.

“Hey Adora,” Catra said once Adora was able to see her.

Silently they moved forward, embracing the other first in a hug, then into a kiss they held for long moments, before breathlessly moving apart.

“Catra,” Adora said as she caught her breath. The two still weren’t sure how it had come to this. At first it had been two enemies lost in the Whispering Woods in the night, trying find a way back to their respective encampments, only working together as a necessity. The second time had been two old friends, regretful and longing for what they had before tentatively laying next to the other, letting their attachments beyond each other go for one night. The third time was the worst and the best one. When faced to confront what they were doing, all of their disagreements returned in full. The argument had been loud and cutting, followed by a silence both feared would never be broken, until they found they didn’t need to. The first kiss they shared then was followed by many more; a world-weary deal, a wordless promise. Just for this night, they were strangers to the rest of the world. No Lieutenant Catra, no She-Ra Princess of Power, losing themselves in _us_.

Laying on the bed together, they held each other closely. Adora’s hands ran through Catra’s hair as she kissed each spot She-Ra had been scored by Catra’s claws; no wounds left now save for the memory of pain. Her cheek, her shoulder, her collarbone, and lower kissed in wordless apology. They had gone further before, but tonight they were both weary from the fighting, glad they hadn’t lost the other in this battle.

Night had fallen hours earlier but the two of them were still awake, neither wanting to lose any of the precious seconds they had afforded tonight. They were laying side by side, their legs loosely tangled together when Adora said it. 

“I love you,” she breathed into the others neck, clutching the other a little bit tighter. It had only been said once before as the words that had ended their argument in the worst way, but had led them here, together.

Catra was quiet. For a long, terrifying moment, Adora was afraid she wouldn’t say it back. She couldn’t go through the silence again. In the quiet, a faint rumbling noise came up from Catra’s chest, before she started to move. As she finished shifting, Adora felt Catra’s breath tickle her ear, her voice so soft Adora feared she was imagining it.

“I love you too.”

Catra pulled back with a contented grin, her smile falling when she saw the tears on Adora’s face. Concern flashed across her face but before she could speak Adora kissed her cheek.

“Tell me that you love me,” Adora said, her voice a quiet plea.

“I love you,” Catra said tenderly, reassuring. She would say it as many times as Adora needed and mean it every time she said it. She knew the pain her silence had caused the first time Adora had told her how she felt. Every day, Catra regretted how long it had taken her to understand her own feelings and to realize the full extent of what the Horde had taken from her. From them.

Adora hugged her tight, pressing her face into the crook of Catra’s collar. “I love you,” she whispered. For what felt like hours, they simply repeated that to each other, each intonation conveying a different emotion than the last: affection, reassurance, fear, longing. Each a disclosure of their love for each other. After they had spoken themselves hoarse and let all of their tears out, silence filled the space between them, so similar yet unfathomably different from that ghastly quiet so long ago.

Their silence was broken by a soft yet insistent tapping from the floor.

_Tap. Tap tap. Tap tap tap tap. Tap tap._

As it repeated, both women moved into action. It was a code they had decided on with the bartender who had given them the room over the bar’s storeroom. _Horde. Soldiers. On their way soon. Get out._ Rudimentary, yet effective.

As Catra checked through the curtains for soldiers, Adora reached under the bed for her sword, hidden there by Glimmer hours before she arrived. Satisfied the only troops on their way were the ones already inside, Catra turned to Adora.

“There aren’t any watchers on the rooftops. They must be here for your ‘top secret stuff’, and probably don’t expect much of a fight,” she said, her voice hushed as she heard the faint sound of their lock being picked.

Adora heard it as well and spoke quickly before their intruders realized the door’s barricade needed to be broken. “I’ll distract them. Go out through the window.”

As Catra opened the window, she turned and saw Adora looking back at her as well. A silent conversation passed in those seconds. 

An inquisitive glance. _When will I see you again?_

A confident smirk. _Soon. Don’t worry about me I’ll be fine._

A grin returned. _I’d like to see you try to stop me from worrying._

An eye roll. _I wouldn’t dream of it._

A look revealing the worry beneath the facade. _Promise you’ll find me?_

A smirk softened into a reassuring smile. _Promise._

With a silent, sinuous motion, Catra opened the window and leapt onto the rooftops, passing through the shadows until she vanished. Adora gave one final look of longing to the window, before turning to her intruders who had started to break the door down. As she raised her sword up she decided to give the bartender one hell of a piece of gossip to tell, and definitely something she would have to tell Catra later, if only to make her laugh.

For months, even years afterwards, Gertrund told everyone who would listen the story of how She-Ra snuck into her inn and juggled three Horde soldiers through her bar before running them out of town. When she told it to Catra, Adora decided then that Catra’s laughter was the sweetest sound in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> Don't worry I'm not going to take a one shot and continue it to my very mixed feelings again. This was a very spur of the emotion piece, so idk about quality, but! Hope you guys enjoyed this as much as I did writing it! Kudos, comments, and bookmarks are just baller, so feel free to leave some!


End file.
